“Airtel is aggressively building its 4G capacity and this deal will show it. The company is paying about 20 per cent higher price for BWA spectrum which has lost 5 years of its validity period and can be used for another 15 years,” the source said.

Augere has till date done only testing of 4G service but is has not started commercial operations yet.

As per the licensing agreement, August 31, 2015 is the deadline for all companies which won BWA spectrum in 2010, including Augere, to roll out the services in at least 90 per cent of the service areas, failing which the Department of Telecom will have the right to withdraw the radiowaves.